Trending Content

Northeast Indiana’s Home

Welcome to Our Office

After four months of construction, the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership team is back in our offices at 200 E. Main Street in downtown Fort Wayne!

Our newly renovated office space now serves as the physical front door to the region, welcoming guests to Northeast Indiana and introducing our story through branded elements including a floor-to-ceiling timeline of the Regional Partnership's history.

Additionally, the office renovation allows us to best showcase the region and to work collaboratively with our internal team, partners and stakeholders. The office also highlights the top industries and collective strengths of the region by featuring elements, fixtures and finishes from each of the region's 11 counties. We’ve also increased our conference room capacity from four to seven conference rooms and our board room can now accommodate 70 people.

We extend sincere gratitude to all of the partners who are supporting us in this project, including Design Collaborative, The Hagerman Group and Ambassador Enterprises. This was a hugely collaborative project, and we are confident it will showcase the uniqueness of Northeast Indiana. We truly appreciate Ambassador Enterprises for the generosity they showed in hosting our entire team in their offices for the duration of the renovation!

TImeline of Northeast Indiana's Collaborative History

Vision 2030: An Evolution of Building a Region

January 1, 2017

Vision 2030 builds on the successes of its predecessor, Vision 2020, yet streamlines the processes to encourage greater community engagement and more nimble action. Vision 2030 is aimed at achieving three bold goals by 2030: increasing Per Capita Personal Income annually against the national average, growing our population to 1 million residents and increasing the percentage of our workforce with a postsecondary degree or credential to 60 percent. To keep our community thriving, we must take action now to increase population, encourage wage growth and ensure we are competitive in the global economy.

Northeast Indiana on the Road to One Million

February 1, 2016

The full impact of Indiana’s Regional Cities Initiative will not be realized for years to come. Clearly a shot in the arm for quality of place assets in Fort Wayne and other regional communities, Northeast Indiana has committed to our own Road to One Million plan for retaining and attracting skilled talent and increasing our population growth rate. Northeast Indiana fully satisfied the state’s $42 million match requirements and committed over $255 million in just one year to fund 23 quality of place projects throughout the region.

Target Industry Report

January 1, 2016

Northeast Indiana’s Target Industry Report explores economic transformation in the regional economy since the end of the recession and the opportunities that exist to strengthen and focus economic growth and diversification efforts in the region’s target industries. The report provides an analysis of post-recession economic changes in the region’s target industries while identifying other emerging industries primed for economic development investments. Northeast Indiana supports seven industries including Vehicles, Medical Device & Technology, Specialty Insurance, Food & Beverage, Logistics & E-Commerce, Advanced Materials and Design & Craftsmanship.

The Establishment of the Northeast Indiana Regional Development Authority

January 1, 2015

The Northeast Indiana RDA was formed to qualify, apply and disburse funds awarded to the region through the state’s Regional Cities Initiative with the goals of increasing economic growth, population growth and the region’s national brand identity. Kosciusko County joined the RDA, making it the largest RDA in the state geographically, and Northeast Indiana grew from 10 to 11 counties, reflecting the region’s unique strength in collaboration. The RDA was formed in 11 weeks when 11 county councils and 73 elected officials voted to join the RDA.

Our Story Project

January 1, 2014

Through the Our Story Project, Northeast Indiana discovered common language through consensus-driven workshops and surveys of nearly 1,000 residents in all of the region’s counties. The project focused on defining the authentic personality of the region, The Contender, and provided guidance on how to communicate that identity consistently. In the end, we learned that we have move in common than we originally perceived, and regional stakeholders were given unified and easy-to-use messaging specific to audiences—improving consistency in messaging across the region to increase business and talent attraction.

Regional Transportation Spine

February 1, 2013

Led by the LEDO Council and the Mayors’ and Commissioners’ Caucus, the region designed and adopted a regional “spine” for transportation infrastructure based on economic impact. This hallmark collaborative project generated a prioritized list of regional transportation projects to support the Indiana Department of Transportation’s planning and legislative advocacy. It was this plan that led to the $30 million Lafayette Center Road extension, which opened in the fall of 2017.

Jim Clifton and “The Coming Jobs War”

January 1, 2013

We hold Jim Clifton’s book “The Coming Jobs War” as the best articulation for why America and its individual communities must win the global war for jobs and economic freedom. Through Clifton’s personal visit to speak to Northeast Indiana business and community leaders, we cemented our commitment to develop tribal leaders and local solutions to confront Northeast Indiana’s most difficult constraints to economic growth.

Mayors’ and Commissioners’ Caucus

January 1, 2012

The Mayors’ and Commissioners’ Caucus provides our government leaders from all 11 counties with a unified voice to advance economic development policies at the state level. These elected community leaders are active in driving the need for embracing risk and growth in the region’s economy. The Caucus uses consensus-based decision making and works across political borders to address the region’s complex issues.

The Code of Ethics

January 1, 2011

In Northeast Indiana, you’ll find an emphasis on regional collaboration and trust. By adhering to these values, rooted in our Code of Ethics, we provide outstanding business support and grow our region—together. These public proclamations demonstrate that we are committed to the highest levels of performance, accountability and professionalism through a culture of trust and respect. The Code of Ethics was signed publicly by members of the Regional Partnership’s LEDO Council, Northeast Indiana Works and the Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana. Since then, the Mayors’ and Commissioners’ Caucus has adopted the Code of Ethics in its founding documents.

Launch of Vision 2020

February 1, 2010

In 2010, the Regional Partnership launched Vision 2020 to bring the region together around five key pillars for economic growth: 21st Century Talent, Competitive Business Climate, Entrepreneurship, Infrastructure and Quality of Life. Vision 2020 became the key strategy in building a globally competitive region to increase business investment. Around this same time, the region began working on increasing educational attainment and certifications to advance Vision 2020 goals. We formed the Big Goal Collaborative, a group of educators and business leaders focused on increasing educational attainment to 60 percent.

Project Maple Leaf

January 1, 2010

Since closing the deal with Iotron Industries in Columbia City in Whitley County, the region has held up this economic development project as the proof case that we had achieved a rare state of trust and collaboration in our region. Iotron landed in Northeast Indiana because the economic development professionals, led by the Whitley County Economic Development Corporation, worked together across community and county lines, sharing information and resources. This project demonstrated the power of regional collaboration and the impact of strengthening the culture for economic development to increase business investment in the region.

Recession and Per Capita Personal Income

February 1, 2009

Not only did Northeast Indiana survive the recession, our gritty Hoosier determination shined as we led the state and the nation in emerging from one of the worst global recessions in history. The recession had devastating impacts on lives and entities both public and private, and we rebounded stronger and more diversified as a region for having suffered the challenge together. Today, we focus on growing Northeast Indiana’s Per Capita Personal Income annually to ensure the region is prospering against the national average.

Lilly Grant Creates Talent Initiative

January 1, 2009

The 2009 Talent Initiative, a program made possible by a $20 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc., was designed to accelerate education and training initiatives in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to respond to the needs of defense, aerospace and advanced manufacturing industries. The Talent Initiative grant played a definitive role in our region’s ability to rebound and make progress toward our goal of becoming a top global competitor.

The LEDO Council and the Power of Collaboration

February 1, 2008

Northeast Indiana convenes all economic development organizations in our region to address the needs of regional businesses and businesses looking to expand or relocate to Northeast Indiana. The Local Economic Development Organization (LEDO) Council is an advisory group made up of economic development leaders from each member county. This group was incorporated by the founding bylaws of the Regional Partnership and was the early catalyst the region needed to begin building trust and collaborative economic development work. Together they still collaborate with the common goal of improving economic and community development in Northeast Indiana.

A Lesson Learned in Building a Region

January 1, 2008

The Regional Partnership received a healthy dose of reality when two prominent national site selectors, Darin Buelow and Bob Ady, spoke plainly and directly about the need for Northeast Indiana to focus on improving our regional product and collaborating across borders to achieve success in our mission to sell and market the region. With this awakening, Northeast Indiana conceived a plan to build a region that could be a contender in the global marketplace. From shovel-ready sites and shell buildings to streamlined permitting and infrastructure advancements, we began to build a globally competitive region.

The Founders of the Regional Partnership

January 1, 2006

The founders of the Regional Partnership committed to implement a model for regionalism, leveraging limited resources through collaboration across community borders to achieve a greater good not otherwise possible. Their “declaration” of regionalism occurred in 2006 when they committed to raise the resources necessary to build a regional collaborative devoted to marketing and selling the aggregate economic assets of our region. In effect, the founders declared, “We will not be bound by our history. We must create a new future for Northeast Indiana by working together to achieve greater prosperity for all residents.” And, so it was. In its initial investment campaign, the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership raised $7.8 million to begin moving the region toward this vision.